Ala. couple charged in scheme to get girl pregnant

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama couple who wanted a baby repeatedly sexually assaulted an underage girl in hopes she'd get pregnant and give them the infant, authorities said Monday.

Court records show Jeremy Swann, 29, and wife Amanda Swann, 28, both of the Jones community in rural Dallas County, were charged with rape.

District Attorney Michael Jackson said the man's mother also was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly knowing what was going on and failing to intervene.

A judge set their bonds at $500,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Sept. 9. None of the three has a defense attorney, Jackson said, and all three will likely receive a court-appointed lawyer.

Court records show that Amanda Swann tried to talk the mentally incapacitated girl into having sex with Jeremy Swann so she could get pregnant and have a child for them. Later, she watched as the man repeatedly assaulted the girl, according to a sworn statement from an investigator.

The girl screamed during the assaults, which occurred over the past month, and at least once the man gagged her with a ball to keep her quiet, the statement said. Amanda Swann did nothing "because she wanted (the victim) to have a baby for her," the document said.

The woman assisted the girl to the bathroom after each assault, according to the document.

The girl, whose age isn't disclosed in court documents, never got pregnant, Dallas County Investigator Janet Cole said in an interview.

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Jeremy Swann's mother, 57-year-old Dianna Swann, lives with the couple and was present when the assaults occurred but didn't try to help the girl, Cole told the Selma Times-Journal (http://bit.ly/1l8tlpE ).

"She heard the girl screaming, and she did nothing," Cole said.

The charges resulted from a Department of Human Resources investigation that began after the couple sought legal custody of the girl, Cole said. The three were arrested last week.

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